Banner Health was the first non-university based healthcare organization to purchase a cyclotron. The resulting PET Center became a leader in brain-imaging research, a resource to researchers throughout Arizona, and a major catalyst to the development of both the Arizona Alzheimer's Consortium and the Arizona Bioscience Roadmap. It introduced leaders from several scientific disciplines to brain-imaging research and forged strong relationships among researchers from different institutions. It made major contributions to the study of memory, consciousness, emotion, temperature and pain sensation, hunger, satiation, taste and the predisposition to obesity, the role of PET in clinical oncology, the role of brain-mapping in neurosurgical treatment planning, the role of brain imaging in the scientific study, unusually early detection and tracking, treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's disease, the training of researchers from multiple scientific disciplines, and the development of new image-acquisition and image-analysis techniques. With the cessation of replacement parts for our aging cyclotron, a new cyclotron system is critically needed to support ongoing research programs and capitalize on new scientific opportunities at Banner Health and around the state. We request the funds to purchase the GE PETtrace cyclotron system to replace our aging cyclotron, ensure uninterrupted continuation of our well-known research program, capitalize on and provide a foundation for significant new biomedical research investments at Banner Health and other Arizona institutions, and provide a vital statewide scientific resource. This shared scientific resource will permit researchers in Arizona and in surrounding states to capitalize on PET and PET/CT systems at Banner Health, the planned acquisition of a mobile micro-PET system as a statewide animal-imaging resource, the recently established Banner Alzheimer's Institute (BAI) and recently established MD Anderson Banner Cancer Center (MDA). It will capitalize on existing research programs and major new investments at the BAI, MDA, Sun Health Research Institute, Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), Arizona State University, University of Arizona, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Barrow Neurological Institute, St. Joseph's Medical Center and Scottsdale Healthcare. The new cyclotron system will galvanize research related to Alzheimer's disease, the cognitive, behavioral and clinical neurosciences, oncology, obesity, diabetes, other disorders, and the development of new image- acquisition and image-analysis methods. It will address our urgent need to replace our aging and now obsolete cyclotron. It will permit us to expand our radiochemistry resources, address the rapidly growing needs of researchers throughout Arizona, and provide a range of radiotracers for PET research studies at Banner and around the state. Among other things, Arizona has an unprecedented opportunity to leverage this equipment in cancer research, the accelerated evaluation of promising Alzheimer's prevention therapies, and both the maintenance and creation of new jobs.
The GE PETtrace cyclotron will provide a rare, valuable resource to researchers throughout Arizona. It will make major contributions to the understanding of the living human brain, the fight against Alzheimer's disease, cancer, and other medical disorders, and the development of improved imaging methods. This resource will help us to create 3 new jobs and maintain about 21 existing positions at Banner Health while generating or maintaining more than 27 jobs within the Phoenix metropolitan area, and promote major investments in biomedical research throughout Arizona.
